


Dangerously Close To Hope

by LenaConH



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-09-30 16:37:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10167284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LenaConH/pseuds/LenaConH
Summary: After Lena is proven innocent of her mother's escape thanks to Kara's help, both women grow closer together until their feelings for each other can't be denied any more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is set after 13x02 and follows previous canon except Mon-El doesn't exist.  
> It's going to be mainly fluff and minor conflict and will eventually use narrative elements from the show after episode 13.

 

“So my office is overflowing with flowers.” Kara couldn’t help the grin on her face when she was hit by memories of coming into an office full of all kinds of bouquets and thank you cards, each of them unique and personal.

“Really?” Lena retorted, fake ignorance all over her face.

“Yeah.”

They chuckled at that, both for their own reasons.

Lena on her part was relieved to know her gesture was appreciated. She had spent a big part of her day asking herself if there might had been too many flowers, or not enough, or maybe not the right kind; until she had settled on not mentioning anything about it unless Kara did.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Kara said after she collected herself, her voice softer than usual.

“Yeah I did.” She really did. And to Lena it felt like the most honest thing she had said in a long time. “Supergirl told me that it was you who sent her. I don’t know how to thank you.” However, she wasn’t being quite honest; she actually had some ideas on how to thank her, but they involved acknowledging how deep her gratitude for Kara’s presence in her life ran, and she was sure neither of them where ready for that. Or that they would ever be.

“Well that’s what friends are for,” Kara said without losing a beat, like it was the most obvious thing in the universe. And Lena’s heart ached a little, for several different reasons.

She considered hiding her emotions behind playful flirting like she’d done countless times before, but decided that the least Kara deserved was her sincerity. So she gave her that.

“I’ve never had friends like you before. Come to think of it, I’ve never had family like you.” That elicited stinging memories on Lena’s mind and she tried to suppress them as best as she could, because right then the only important thing was Kara. Kara, who had believed in her despite the solid evidence. Kara, who had not given up on her. “No one’s ever stood up for me like that,” She said before she could over think it. Before she could contemplate against it.

“Now you have someone that will stand up for you. Always,” Kara reassured her.

And she almost believed it for a second, with Kara looking at her like that, eyes all honest and a smile brighter than a thousand suns. But deep down Lena knew that sooner or later she’d disappoint her. She’d make some ill decision and she would make Kara regret those words. She’d make her break that silent pledge.

But then again there was Kara, looking at her like she would do absolutely anything for Lena to believe her words, and she couldn’t help but indulge her.

“Well, Supergirl may have saved me but Kara, _you_ ,” Lena said with playful eyes and the raise of an eyebrow, “are my hero.”

Neither of them could help a laugh that lasted a second too long, both pretending it was just light hearted humour. Because the implications underneath that were so tangled and full of lies and disappointment, that they were better left like that. Like some playful innocent joke.

They were too up in their heads to notice whom had made the first move but suddenly they were hugging. Suddenly the world felt safe and warm and understanding.

And there, with her head resting atop Kara’s shoulder, she whispered a thank you that flooded Kara with a wave of warmth and fuzziness. A thank you meant only for her ears. One that could only exist in the private little universe that had settled around them.

Kara wondered what else could she say but “Anytime.” Because she would do everything again and again if it meant keeping Lena safe and happy. Lena, who would have traded her whole company to stay just like that, wrapped up in Kara’s gentle embrace forever.

They said goodbye. Soft words full of something new. Something growing within them, fragile but certain. Something dangerously close to hope.

Moments later Lena was alone in her office again. Alone with thoughts of her mother and how Lillian would never love her more than what Lena could be of use for her. With thoughts of her brother and how fast he’d turned his back to her in favour of his own thirst for power; how she’d been betrayed by the only person in her family who had shown her what love could look like.

She laid eyes on the chess set Lex had given her for her first birthday with the Luthors and picked up a knight. She remembered when she had first arrived at the household, how fast Lex and she had bonded over the game. She missed the days when she was young and innocent and had no clue of what her last name would bring into her life.

But all of that was in the past. She was done with it. No more doubting herself over her family history. She might have been Lionel’s biological daughter but that didn’t mean anything new to her, apart from another set of lies in her past. The Luthor part of her was the one they had taught her, the one she had built around herself as armour as result of what her family made her go through.

She was resolved to leave that in the past, to not only get a fresh start for L-Corp but for herself too, despite her mother still being out there planning her next move, and herself not being too well versed in taking care of her personal life. That part was going to be harder than the business side, but she had to do it. For her own sake.

And probably for the sake of the world too.

She put the chess piece back down.

No, she was done with them.

Especially if she had someone like Kara in her life to remind her of her own strength. Kara, who had something about herself that was slowly creeping through Lena’s very think walls. And it was scary, but, as she had said in the past, you can’t live in fear. And if someone were to manage that unprecedented feat of getting through her Luthor shell, she really wasn’t opposed to the idea of it being Kara.

 

Kara closed the door behind her. A sweet grin on her face

She waved at Jess, who was still at her desk looking far from done for the day. “Thanks Jess! Have a nice evening.” She remembered working long nights for Cat whenever some kind of crisis hit CatCo like it were yesterday.

“You too Miss Danvers,” Jess answered, briefly looking up from her computer.

Kara got into the elevator, her thoughts going back to Lena’s office.

Had the hug been too much? Had she lingered too long? Had she made Lena uncomfortable? Surely Lena had reciprocated it, so at least it hadn’t been as weird as Kara was feeling about it right now. She hugged her friends all the time, it probably wasn’t as big of a deal as she was making it in her head. At least she hoped so.

Nonetheless, Lena had called her a hero. Not Supergirl, but Kara Danvers. And that filled her whole body with delight, and a smidgen of anxiety. Delight because nobody had ever considered her a hero in a way that was completely detached from her sun-induced powers. Anxiety because she was afraid of not being able to meet such high expectations as Kara.

All of a sudden her stomach grumbled loudly taking her back to the present an all her brain could focus on in that moment was pizza, and maybe ice cream. She was glad Alex and her had a sister night ahead.

Now that she was reminded of it, Kara wasn’t sure if Alex had made other plans and they hadn’t talked about it at all. She just assumed it would be like any other Monday, but maybe that was going to change as well. So she took her phone out of her pocket and called her sister just to make sure.

 “Hey Kara. Everything okay?”

“Hey, are you still coming for sister night?” Kara asked with a hopeful tone to her voice.

“Yeah, why? If you want to cancel we ca-“

“No! No! Tonight is great! I just thought maybe you had plans with Maggie and I forgot to ask you.” She was relieved at that. Not that she minded Alex spending time with her girlfriend, but sister night had been a staple since she had started working at CatCo and she was craving a peaceful night after the last Cadmus mayhem.

“Kara, I have time for both of you in my life.” Kara could hear a tinge of hurt in her sister’s voice.

“I know Alex, you’ve told me that, several times actually.” The elevator stopped with an accompanying ding and Kara stepped out into the lobby checking the time on the clock over the reception desk. “How far away are you?”

“Almost there.”

“Great! I’ll pick food on my way. I’ll be there in five.” She hung up and in a matter of seconds she was walking out of L-Corp and into an alley, taking off into the dark sky.

Five minutes later Kara was at her apartment door, balancing two pizza boxes in one hand and trying to turn the key with the other.

Alex was already inside, leaning into the kitchen counter with a beer in her hand and looking at her phone.

“Hi!” Kara greeted her cheerfully with a hug and a kiss to her cheek. A bit too cheerfully if you were asking Alex.

“Hey!” She greeted back once Kara had let go of her. ”You’re giddy,” she stated, although Kara knew that tone was actually demanding answers.

“I’m just happy you’re here. We haven’t had a sister night in a long time.” And that was the truth, but only half of it.

Alex looked down, her beer suddenly the most interesting thing in the room. “Yeah I know. I’m sorry for my part of guilt in that.” She hated how she had made Kara feel lately, especially on her Earth birthday. “I’m still learning how to balance a relationship with everything else and things with Maggie haven’t been smooth so I’m trying to be extra careful with all of it.” She looked back at her sister and was met with a smile so warm and understanding that all her self-doubt and worrying seemed insignificant at once.

“Why don’t we move to the sofa and you can tell me everything over pizza, I might even consider letting you eat two slices,” Kara teased, somehow already finishing her first slice.

“Like you could even get between me and pizza.”

They sat and Kara turned the TV on, choosing some random game show as they always did.

“Where were you?” Alex asked absent-mindedly between a beer sip and a pizza bite.

“Hmm?” Kara mumbled, too distracted trying to get a cheese string into her mouth.

Alex always thought she looked like a toddler whenever there was food in the way. After all this years she still had no clue if it was endearing or outright ridiculous.

“Before now, where were you?” Alex clarified. “You left the DEO a while ago and I know Snapper hasn’t given you anything yet.”

“Oh! I was at Lena’s office,” Kara replied still mesmerised by the food in front of her mouth.

It was only after a brief moment that she noticed her sister glaring at her in that way that instantly reminded Kara who was the older sister out of the two.

“Alex!” She protested. “I know what you’re thinking, but she’s not her mother. You’ve seen that. She saved my life. She saved your life. She helped us.”

Alex let out a sigh. “I know, I know. I still can’t trust her completely.” She paused, trying to make a point. “But I trust you. And if you say she’s not like her family then I believe you. Just be careful.”

“I will.” Kara could see the concern in Alex’s eyes. She understood why her sister felt like that. However, she was sure Lena would never try to hurt her. No matter what her last name was, Lena was her friend. “She just wanted to thank me again for the article and everything. Even though she already sent flowers to my office this morning and-“

“Wait what flowers?” Alex interrupted, clear confusion on her voice.

“Oh my god, I forgot to tell you.” Kara was suddenly beaming again remembering the state of her office earlier that day. “I went into my office this morning and it was full of flowers. Like, overflowing full. And there were all this beautiful big bouquets of lilies, and daisies, and some flowers I didn’t recognise, but they were still very pretty. And there was this little vase with plumerias in the middle of my desk, and that’s when I knew they were from Lena cause she had them at her office and I told her they reminded me of home. And they’re extremely rare, Alex. And she had also sent a thank you card with every bouquet. Different ones. Like, she had to write them all. And my office looked so beautiful you know?”

“And she did all that for an article?” Alex asked once she was sure her sister was done with her rant, a quizzical look on her face.

“Well...” Kara hesitated. “Supergirl might have told Lena I sent her because I believed in her,” she blurted, knowing how Alex would react to that confession.

“Kara! You should be more careful with these things.” She reprimanded her, doing a remarkable impression of Eliza, at least to Kara’s eyes.

“Alex, relax! She doesn’t suspect anything. I’m not as obvious as you think I am.” She tried to sound as convincing as she could, which even Kara knew was not a lot. “Not always.” She added after a beat.

“If you say so...” Alex was still not persuaded by that. “But still, Lillian was there too. You don’t want to give Cadmus any more reasons to go after you, whatever you that is.”

“I’ll be fine,” Kara said, stressing her last word in a futile attempt to lessen her sister’s uneasiness. “I just... Lena has no one right now and I want to be there for her. I don’t want her to feel alone against the world, with no one to talk too. I just want her to know I understand. That’s all.”

“I’m glad she has you then.” Alex said, nothing but softness and honesty in her voice.

“Me too.”

They spent the rest of the night watching one of Kara’s Disney movies, which Alex was sure they had watched over fifty times already, and sharing a pint of chocolate ice cream before calling it a day.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

Kara arrived at work at exactly five to nine. She actually took pride in her punctuality, that was whenever an emergency didn’t get in her way, which rarely happened. As rarely as having a quiet morning at work, which she thoroughly intended to have.

She tried to discretely get past Snapper’s office before he noticed her. And it was shaping up to being a success by the looks of him, nose deep in an article and a red pen in hand, ready to ruin a poor reporter’s life with endless hours of correction after correction.

“Hey ponytail, your admirer sent flowers again. Go on a date with them like normal people do before I get an allergy,” he burst out with his eyes still laser focused on the paper.

It took Kara by surprise. She swore he had better senses than she had. But then she noticed the implications of what he had just said and blushed at the idea of having that kind of admirer. “Oh no! It’s not like that, it’s just...”

“You’re on news recap duty for the web magazine. I need an article by six,” he ordered peremptorily.

It didn’t seem like he was actually annoyed by the flower incident or he would have given her a lecture, but still Kara wasn’t keen on testing that by complaining about her task, so she complied. At least it would make her day easy and uneventful.

“Hmm yes, sure.” Kara responded, not knowing if that’s all he had for her and standing there awkwardly for what felt like ten seconds too long.

Snapper, however, felt like it was ten hours too long.

“Go!” He urged her, waving his hand in emphasis.

So she did so as fast as she could. Or, well, as fast as a human would have done.

Kara entered her office and she was met with a new set of bouquets, adding to the ones that were left there from the previous day. She had taken a few home, after she had decided that there were more than enough flowers to adorn her apartment as well as her office, and maybe because she also wanted something that reminded her of Lena there. She had to admit that the sight of plumerias early in the morning had cheered her instantly for some reason that Kara knew deep inside had less to do with flowers and more to do with the amazing woman who had sent them.

The new ones were fewer but more elaborate. A combination of intricate arrangements of all colours and sizes that made the room smell amazing.

Kara shook her head and grinned. She didn’t even need to check the cards to know who had sent them but she still read them and they were all even lovelier than she expected.

She cleared her desk enough so she could work on it and saw a paper bag resting on top of it. One moment she was opening it, the next one she was already halfway through the doughnut she had found inside. It was absolutely delicious, even better that the ones from her favourite bakery in the city. She made a mental note of asking Lena about the provenance of the sugary goodness.

Kara dug her phone out of her purse to ring Lena, knowing that the other woman might not have time for a call at that time in the morning but taking her chances anyway. Kara felt like texting was lazy when compared to two days of flower overflow.

Lena picked up after the second ring. “Kara, hi,” she greeted keenly.

“You don’t need to keep sending flowers,” Kara said with the hint of a smile in her voice, not even bothering to greet her back; which earned a wholesome laugh from Lena.

“In my defence I have to say I had them already ordered for delivery in case you were being hard to swoon, I just didn’t cancel it,” she explained nonchalantly.

Now it was Kara’s turn to laugh. She quite enjoyed this side of Lena, playful and light. She sounded happy, relaxed even; and that made Kara happy too, knowing Lena was getting some well deserved pace in her life.

“Thanks, they’re beautiful. And thanks for the doughnut too.” An idea popped into Kara’s mind. “I was wondering if you were free for lunch. My boss put me on a fluff piece and it won’t take me more than an hour or two. I mean if you want to. I know you’re probably busy and I just saw you yesterday and-“

“I’d love to, Kara,” Lena chimed in, preventing Kara from falling into one of her nervous rants. “But I have a meeting with some investors today and I predict they will be tough to please. I can be free on Thursday.” She paused briefly, letting her confidence falter for a moment. “If you still want to.”

Kara quickly checked her calendar. “Yes of course, I’d love to! I’ll see you on Thursday then. Good luck with the investors,” she wished cheerfully.

“Thanks Kara.” And Lena knew she was thanking Kara for more than the good luck wish.

“Bye,” Kara said, a contagious warmth in her tone.

“Bye.”  Again that faint of hope creeping inside her that scared Lena more than she was willing to admit.

 

Kara spent a little longer than two hours writing the article, which wasn’t surprising considering how much had happened in the last week. She sent Snapper the draft and flew to the DEO, not wanting to wait for the impending email telling her to rewrite every sentence and cut commas by half.

 She landed on the deck and saw Alex leaning on the railing inside, watching people working on the main floor.

 “Anything exciting?” Kara asked joining by her sister’s side.

“Not  yet.”

They walked down the stairs, Alex leading the way to Winn’s desk. He was typing away furiously, clearly frustrated at what was on the screen.

“Anything new on Cadmus’s hold of Jeremiah?” Alex asked him in a hopeful tenor.

“Nope, still running into dead ends.” He was trying hard to find something, anything. He knew how important this was for Kara and Alex so he was looking at every fragment of evidence from every possible angle in hopes that Cadmus had underestimated their tracking skills.

“Tell me whenever anything pops up.” Alex was getting impatient with the situation. She could manage it better when they thought he was dead. But since they had learned that their father was still alive, staying calm was becoming a quite impossible task for Alex.

“Do we have any information on Lillian’s location?” asked J’onn, who was now standing with them in front of the screens.

“Still nothing, the Kryptonite explosion is making it hard to find any tracks of where they went.” Winn answered, sliding his chair up to the other computer, which was running a thorough satellite search on the area of the explosion.

J’onn turned to Kara, who now had a concerned look on her face because she knew she could do nothing to help the current events. “It’s actually pretty quiet right now, you should take the day off. We’ll call you if you’re needed,” he told Kara.

So Kara did as such and left for home.

 

On days like this when she had time for it and could work from home she actually liked cooking lunch. It wasn’t all comfort food and Chinese take-out.

Kara ate the first two servings of the spaghetti arrabiata on the armchair by the window, alternating between looking out into the city and going through social media on her phone. She scooped a third one into her plate and took her laptop to the kitchen island.

She wanted to be over with work already, so she went through her emails and opened the last one from her boss.

After almost an hour, and a fourth serving of pasta, she had made all the corrections Snapper had asked for to her article and had sent the latest version to him.

She spent a couple hours super-speeding through her house chores and grocery shopping, the latter at human speed, and thereupon found herself without anything to do. There had been no news from the DEO and Snapper had green-lighted her latest correction of the article.

So she put her suit on and flew into the city sky with the hopes of finding someone that needed her help. Not that she wasn’t happy that there had been no accidents or fires or robberies, but if she were being sincere, and a little bit selfish, she was getting pretty bored today.

She decided to stay up there for a while longer just in case, using the chance to contemplate the sunset as well.

She loved to do so and took every opportunity she had for it. Dusk was a lot lovelier to watch from up there, with no buildings in the way and the coastline in full view.

And in those moments when the sun has almost disappeared on the horizon and the sky is tinted with red she let’s herself think of Krypton.

It used to be excruciating for her to see it when she first arrived to Earth, when she had been a girl full of loss and pain. But she grew fond of it with the passing of the years as she had come to cherish her childhood memories instead of dreading them.

When the sun was already gone Kara did a final lap around the city to check everything was fine and headed back to her apartment.

Lately she had been taking the longer route, which meant flying by L-Corp so she could check up on Lena, just in case Cadmus was attempting to further its agenda. At least that was what Kara was telling herself. Maybe someday she’d admit to how big of an excuse that was.

She stopped hot on her tracks when she approached the building, surprised by Lena standing outside on her balcony, looking at the city below her, instead of inside working on her computer or tending to a call like she usually was.

Kara knew she was hovering close enough for Lena to be able to see her but hoped she was too distracted by the city. It was one thing to admit to herself that she flew by L-Corp to check on Lena and a very different and more embarrassing one to get caught in doing so.

She was about to fly away before Lena became aware of her presence when the other woman gestured with her head for Kara to join her, finally looking up from the view.

It took Kara a moment to snap back from her stupor but she landed by Lena’s side, looking out into the city as well, a comfortable silence settling around them.

“I’m amazed you’re not working right now. I thought it was frowned upon to take a break from developing morally grey devices before 10pm,” Kara said after a minute.

“Are you keeping tabs on me, Supergirl?” Lena retorted with fake offence in her voice. “I can assure you if I were working on some mischievous plot I wouldn’t be out here ignoring a tedious pile of paperwork.”

“One can never know,” Kara joked, a pointed but amused look on her face.

Lena laughed wholeheartedly at that and they both fell back into that comfortable silence again. Lena was the first to break it this time.

“I enjoy watching the sunset from up here.” She paused for a moment. “I like observing the whole city in movement. It makes the work I put at trying to make L-Corp a force for good feel real. Like it really makes a bigger difference than just some figures on a paper.” She turned to Kara, looking sincere and vulnerable behind her faltering composure.

And Kara was amazed at that. Amazed at Lena sharing this kind of things with Supergirl. Amazed at how people couldn’t see how kind and giving Lena actually was, and how hard she was working to change the world for better. And she fully comprehended how Lena felt.

Lena cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. She knew Supergirl of all people would understand her sentiments, but she couldn’t help the dreading feeling letting her guard down and sharing thoughts like those evoked in her. “I’d love to continue with this chat but I have to make some calls before the day ends. And I’m sure there’s a city that requires your service. Now Supergirl, if you excuse me,” Lena said, gesturing to the interior of her office.

“Of course. See you later Miss Luthor.”

And with that Kara was taking off into the night, still in awe of Lena and the moment they had just shared.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.  
> You can go talk to me at [lenabloggingthingy](http://lenabloggingthingy.tumblr.com/) if you want so.


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